Scripture Verse

Her leaders are like wolves tearing and devouring the prey, shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. Ezekiel 22:27

Introduction

portrait
Robert Lowry (1826–1899)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns for Times of Trou­ble and Per­se­cu­tion, se­cond edi­tion, en­larged (Lon­don: Stra­han, 1744), pag­es 36–37, alt.

Music: Si­cil­ia Ro­bert Low­ry, 1860 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

Shepherd of souls, Thy sheep behold
In this dark, cloudy day,
The wolf is come into Thy fold,
To scatter, tear, and slay.
His bloody hand th’oppressor shakes
Against the faithful seed,
And havoc of Thy Church he makes—
He makes us as our Head.

Thy narks we in our bodies bear,
But arm us with Thy power,
The rage of fiends and men we dare,
And meet the evil hour.
They only can our bodies kill,
Our souls can ne­ver die;
Our souls exist in Je­sus still,
And reign above the sky.

Wherefore the utmost sufferings here
Of those who Je­sus love,
We count not worthy to compare
With our reward above.
Light are the pains we now endure,
And quickly over-past,
But of the pleasures they secure,
Eternally shall last.

On all th’affliction we look down,
The joy so far exceeds,
So bright, so weighty is the crown
It sets upon your heads.
O what a glo­ri­ous life shall be
In us, ev’n us revealed,
While face to face our Lord we see,
With all His fullness filled.

Who would not then, for such a hope,
The path of sorrow tread,
And take his master’s bur­den up,
And suffer with his Head?
Who would not cheerfully sustain
A cross so light as this,
And bear a momentary pain
For an eter­nal bliss?